of the King of Algiers, who, he assured Selim, desired
nothing better than to become the vassal of the Commander of the Faithful.
Also, he informed him, that in the name of Selim public prayer was offered
in the mosques on Fridays, that his image and superscription were struck on
the coins, that in every manner possible recognition was made of the fact
that he, and he alone, was the chosen of God upon earth. This manner of
stating the situation was both delicate and politic. A less wise man than
Kheyr-ed-Din might have assumed a note of equality from one Moslem
potentate to another, but the corsair was perfectly conscious of his
limitations--he knew exactly how the Grand Turk could be useful to him, and
he was not going to mar his chance by the display of an untimely arrogance.

Hadj-Hossein proved himself to be a tactful and successful ambassador. The
Sultan accepted the homage offered, and made many inquiries concerning the
war prosecuted by Hossein's master against the enemies of the true faith in
the distant region of Algiers. His queries were all answered with deep
submission and the most subtle of flattery, much of which latter was no
doubt a perfectly honest expression of opinion. As to the average
Mohammedan of this period the Padishah was a being set apart by Heaven to
fulfil the decrees of the Prophet.

The ambassador, when he rejoined his master, must have been a proud man, as
so well had he fulfilled his mission that he carried back with him to
Algiers not only a gracious message, but the insignia of the Sanjak,
Scimitar Horse and Tambour, conferred upon that loyal Moslem Kheyred-Din
Barbarossa, who, in the words of the Padishah, "abandoning a sterile
independence, sought in all the bloody hazards of his life nought but the
glory of God and His Prophet" To us this hyperbole, addressed to a pirate,
seems merely ridiculous, but in those days of fanaticism the beliefs of
men, both Christians and Moslems, are something which it is impossible for
us to realise. On either side the way of salvation was the path of
conquest, and the man who was heretic to the faith which you professed was
rightly served if you could cut him and his off from among the
congregation.

It was well for the corsair to make as many friends as possible, as among
his enemies he counted all the kings of Christendom; and, looking back on
his career, it seems but little short of a miracle that he was not crushed
out of existence, not once but